We’re proud to announce that all packages for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Update 2.1 were released December 16th, 2016 to the Microsoft Download Center and available for download! Appropriate packages will appear on Microsoft Update shortly .

Note: The Updates documented in this blog update the Dynamics CRM 2016 components described in this Microsoft Knowledge base article:

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Premier Field Engineering recommends doing all the standard testing you generally do for all Updates, which could be the functional and performance testing that you would do with a new major release or a subset of that test plan

The “general rule of thumb” for test plans for Update Rollup installs are:

Test any changes in a pre-production environment BEFORE introducing into your production environment. Manage your risk!

Consider using the Performance Toolkit for Microsoft Dynamics CRM to simulate your production user load in your testing environment to shake out any performance-related issues early. The link above points to a recently-released version of the Toolkit reworked to support CRM 2016! Talk to your TAM (Technical Account Manager) if you want Premier Field Engineering to help your team install and configure it!

Test using the permissions your most restrictive end-user roles have. Testing with CRM Administrator permissions, for example, does not give you the complete picture

Client packages installed manually by downloading the packages and running install will require local administrator privileges. If the client packages are installed via Microsoft Update or SCCM (System Center Configuration Manager), they will not require local administrator privileges

Consider using Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) or similar software distribution technologies to distribute Dynamics CRM Update Rollups internally. WSUS is a locally managed system that works with the public Microsoft Update website to give system administrators more control. By using Windows Server Update Services, administrators can manage the distribution of Microsoft hotfixes and updates released through Automatic Updates to computers in a corporate environment

For help with installation please see the Installation Information section of the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Update 2.1 “master” Microsoft Knowledge Base article

Occasionally, updates released via Microsoft Dynamics CRM Updates require manual configuration to enable them. Microsoft Dynamics CRM Updates are always cumulative; for example, Update 0.2 will contain all fixes previously released via Update 0.1 as well as fixes newly released via Update 0.2. So if you install Update 0.2 on a machine upon which you previously installed no Updates, you will need to manually enable any desired fixes for Update Rollups 0.1 – 0.2:

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2016 Update 1.0: Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2016 Update 1 contains updates that you must configure manually. These include Portal, Field Service, and Project Service, which each require the customer to install the solution from the Office 365 Portal. To receive the product updates, you must “opt in”. For more information on how to install product updates in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2016 or Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, see the following Microsoft TechNet topic: Install product updates

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Update 2.0: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Update 2 contains updates that you must configure manually, as does Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2016 Update 1.0. These include Portal, Field Service, and Project Service, which each require the customer to install the solution from the Office 365 Portal. To receive the product updates, you must “opt in”. For more information on how to install product updates in Microsoft Dynamics 365 or Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, see the following Microsoft TechNet topic: Install product updates

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Update 2.1 Microsoft Dynamics 365 Update 2.1ontains updates that you must configure manually. These include Portal, Field Service, and Project Service, which each require the customer to install the solution from the Office 365 Portal. To receive the product updates, you must “opt in”. For more information on how to install product updates in Microsoft Dynamics 365 or Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, see the following Microsoft TechNet topic: Install product updates